A new study has found that when a young couple decides to move in together, the woman thinks this means the relationship is getting more serious, but a majority of young men say they don’t see it quite the same way.

A new report from the National Center for Health Statistics has found that more women are now opting for cohabitation rather than marriage as a “first union” with these relationships lasting slightly longer than before.

During a 2011 roundtable discussion on Fox News, guest commentator Jay Thomas argued that young people should not be too concerned when it comes to pre-marital sex, because nobody would choose to “buy a car without driving it first. You don’t get married, and you don’t learn about sex, by not having it.”

During a meeting with young married couples at the closing ceremony of Italy’s Eucharistic Congress, Pope Benedict XVI gave sage advice to families on dating, commitment and the false belief that living together before marriage can somehow guarantee a happy future.

The Most Rev. Michael Sheehan Archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico, has issued a pastoral letter in which he addressing the problem of Catholics who cohabit, saying they are living in a state of mortal sin and should not receive the sacraments until they make their union acceptable to Jesus Christ.